Evacuees from Russian-Occupied Olesjky Arrive in Ukraine

The first evacuees from the Russian-occupied city of Olesjky arrived in Ukraine on Saturday after a long journey via Belarus, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanking the US and First Lady Melania Trump for mediating a local ceasefire. The evacuees crossed the border from Belarus by bus and were embraced by family members they had not seen for years. They had traveled by bus to Anapa, Russia, then by four military planes to Gomel, Belarus, a 450-kilometer route with an overnight stop in Simferopol. The local ceasefire, the first of its kind in the war, was negotiated by the human rights commissioners of both countries with US support and pressure from Pope Leo. Of Olesjky's original 24,000 residents, about 1,700 remained, with over 200 choosing evacuation to Ukraine.